Most planters I talk to get really excited about the idea of a leadership resident joining their team. But then most admit they don’t even know where to start looking.

The truth is, residents are not going to just show up on your door. (Some will–but most wont.) You’re going to need to connect with others and find them.

Recruiting a resident comes down to networking and meeting with residency prospects.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you find a leadership resident:

Have you clarified exactly what a residency will look like for you and your team? Have you received coaching and input from others who already train residents? Can you articulate your vision and process for a resident clearly?

Are you communicating externally? Are you telling others (church planters, pastors etc.) that you’re looking for a resident. Are you tapping your relational networks and letting them know you’re looking?

Are you communicating internally? Are you casting vision to potential leaders within your organization that you are looking for a resident?

Are you making space in your schedule to meet with potential residents? Does finding a resident get space on your calendar or not?

Are you pursuing residents you have connected with? Are you following up with prospects that have expressed an interest in residency and making time to meet with them? Or are you letting others meet with them?

Are you asking others (staff, network partners, etc.) to help you connect with new residents through their relational networks.

Are you talking to current leadership residents to find out who they might know?

Are you attending conferences like Exponential and others to build relationships with potential residents.

Are you offering basic assessments to residents to help them understand how they’re wired and whether they might be a good fit for you and your team.

If you’re interested in a leadership residency with my tribe, NewThing, hit me up. I’d love to talk to you.

So what about you? How do you start recruiting leadership residents. What has worked for you that can help the rest of us.

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I started Mission Glue for one reason: to help church planters plant healthy reproducing churches. One way to do that is to hear from practitioners. I want to hear from church planters who are actually planting churches. You may not have heard of them but they have learned a ton and can teach us much.

I recently had the privilege of talking to Mike Evans, Lead Planter of Discover Church in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

I first met Mike when he arrived at Restore for a Leadership Residency. Mike had been on staff at a mega-church in Wichita and therefore brought some experience to the table. Through relationships with people in Kansas City, Mike moved his family to the Kansas City area with a dream of planting a church for people far from God.

Mike attended assessment and also spent 5 months as a Leadership Resident with Restore. During his time he did everything right in my opinion. He attended assessment. He leaned into the phases of the residency. He remained teachable and worked hard to reproduce small groups and teams. Mike is also a runner (like me) and so I loved that a couple of our meetings were on the trail.

While Mike was sent by a group of churches for the purposes of accountability/management/funding/encouragement, Mike did plant solo. He’s careful to admit that he wouldn’t do that again–too hard!

I’ve been married for 19 years (20 this summer) to an amazing, gracious, gifted woman named Wendy. 4 kids, Andy – graduating in May, will be attending Univ. of Central Missouri this fall, majoring in Marketing; Katie, 8th grader and the most content, sweet kid in history; Zach, 6th grader and the smartest 12 year old on the planet; and Mindy, 2nd grader and the snuggliest little blondie ever.

How is your family part of your church planting adventure?

This is OUR deal, not mine. Everyone plays a role seemingly every week. I just baptized my 12 year old’s best buddy. My wife leads in kids and helps with admin and women’s stuff. My kids are all in on anything service-oriented we do. I couldn’t do this without their hearts being in it too. Just no way that happens. We never would have even started without the family buy-in.

When did Jesus become real for you?

August 9, 1980, at a place called Vesper Hill on Lake Bridgeport, TX

Why are you a church planter?

Because I couldn’t get on at the railroad? Umm, honestly the vision wouldn’t leave me alone and if I didn’t plant a church or at least try it would have been an act of disobedience to God’s call on my life.

What circumstances led you to believe God was calling you to plant a church?

I was serving faithfully at a church in Wichita, when two friends convinced me to connect with a dude named Justin (The Heartland Project) who directs a church planting organization. We started talking, praying, dreaming, and here we are today.

Where is your 3rd place?

Two of them really Xtreme Fitness and McDonalds down the street. I know, I’m cheap but there you go.

Describe the cultural ethos you hope to create/created at Discover.

We love our Jesus and our city and are very intentional about building a place where people not yet in love with Jesus can take one step closer, and where people who are can take one step deeper.

What difference will your church plant make in the community?

We want to impact the spiritual landscape of LS. We’re very involved in Downtown Main Street, partnering with a local elementary school, a local youth outreach called Pro Deo, lots and lots of stuff. We want the city to be ticked if we ever decided to bail.

What have your learned about raising funds for your project that can help the rest of us?

Get as many churches as you can to come alongside you and then use the Lead Pastors of those churches to serve as your management team until you raise up internal leadership.

What is/was the great challenge you faced planting your church and how did you overcome it?

Licking the challenge of developing leaders when we started with so many people so far from God. So may broken people, so much to do, and it takes time to grow them. We honestly need to do a better job at apprenticing people in all areas.

Who inspires you and why?

My wife. I’ve learned more about Jesus, service, unconditional love, and grace from her than anyone else in my life. She’s so fun and just being with her, well, there’s a reason we have four kids and it’s not because I like kids so much!

How are you caring for yourself while planting?

Taking Mondays as a Sabbath is key. I work out 5-6x/week, running, light lifting, that kind of thing. Just the basics-consistent prayer, Bible study, reading a lot, trying to stay a real person and not play the “role” of pastor.

Do you have a plan for planting more churches/campuses etc. What is it?

Yes. We have a Leadership Resident coming this fall who will by God’s grace launch a new church in Fall 2014.

If you could ask a church planter you don’t know one question, what would it be?

Who do you think will make the playoffs again first, the Royals or the Chiefs? Seriously, I’d ask a question about how s/he deals with self-talk and discouragement successfully.

What is your favorite band and why?

Sorry dude but I have a couple. When I’m feeling mellow it’s definitely Allison Krauss and Union Station. Because they just get it done. When working out it’s definitely Rush. Cuz Geddy can sing, Alex can riff, and Neil is the best ever.

I am grateful to Mike for sharing his experiences and insights with us. Will you do me a favor and pray for Mike and the Discover team right now.

Why is it that reproducing artists, leaders and churches is so dang hard? I think it’s because many of us make two key mistakes:

We believe reproducing is easier than it really is.

We don’t build a culture of reproducing.

So let’s all just admit reproducing is hard. But it’s essential if we want to see a movement to accomplish the Jesus mission.

I am convinced reproducing can be reduced to three components:

Vision

Intentionality

Accountability.

A friend and fellow church planter challenged me to think through reproducing and to help other planters. So I am writing a series of posts “How to Create a Culture of Reproducing” (I know it’s clever) to help planters think this through.

Accountability simply means that you have measures in place to help you do what you say you’re going to do. If you want to build a culture of reproducing you’re going to need to set goals, develop some metrics around them, and then help each other meet those goals. Sure it’s hard, but it’s also essential.

Here are some ways to build accountability into your culture…

Celebrate Reproducing. When you see people reproducing celebrate it. Tell a stories of people reproducing. Write notes to leaders who are reproducing etc. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate reproducing.

Ask Questions. When you check in with staff and leaders ask them how they’re doing on the reproducing front. Questions like: “who is your apprentice” or “who are you investing in” or “who are you doing ministry with” are great ways to drive home the notion that your culture is all about who is next.

Create Leadership Expectations Document. I know it sounds dull but it’s essential to write down what exactly you and your team are going to hold yourselves accountable to. This document should inform your leaders about what you’re asking them to do and why. And it should set accountability standards for reproduction by spelling out what reproducing needs to look like in your context.

Create a Matrix to Track Reproducing. Devise a simple metric to track coaches, leaders and apprentices. Share these numbers with your team often.

Insist Leaders Meet with Their Apprentices. The planter will need to keep asking leaders who they have met with and how those meetings are going. If you’re leaders aren’t recruiting and investing in apprentices you’re not reproducing.

Term Small Groups. I am a fan of term small groups. We have three a year. And they help foster reproducing. At the end of every term out leaders have an opportunity to invest in another apprentice.

Always Be Reproducing Something. A leader, a team, a service, a church, a network…You can’t wait for a the right time to reproduce. Set a goal for reproducing and work towards it. When you reach it, set another goal. Soon you’ll be seeing reproducing everywhere.

Well that’s it–for now. Like I said, I’ve tried to capture my thoughts on this topic. They will certainly change. Just a couple of things to remember.

Keep at it. Reproducing is hard. If it weren’t everyone would be doing and we’d see Kingdom movements everywhere. While reproducing is hard, I am convinced that it’s the only way we are going to achieve the Jesus mission.

Reproducing is practice and art, not method and process. I hope you can see that reproducing is not a growth model nor a program. It’s an ethos. It’s a Kingdom thing.

Reproducing is a God thing. While you do need vision, intentionality and accountability–in the end God does the reproducing. Paul reminded the Corinthian church:

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:5-7).

What have you learned about reproducing that can help the rest of us? Please comment here or email me. I’d love to hear from you.

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Today we’re talking about the need to be intentional about reproducing.

You and your team must be intentional about reproducing. It’s got to be deliberate and done on purpose. Remember, you don’t just happen to reproduce. To build a reproducing culture and to persevere in the face of opposition, you’ve got to remain intentional. You’ve got to do the work.

Here several things you can do to be intentional about reproducing…

Create a Structure of Apprenticeship. This structure ought to include a pathway for leadership development. Ex. Staff members invest in coaches who invest in leaders who invest in apprentices. (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Create a Leadership Gathering. Your leaders need a time and place to gather. Host a monthly gathering of leaders (or quarterly at minimum). In this gathering you must: celebrate reproduction, teach reproducing skills, cast vision to your leaders about reproducing. The goal of this meeting is to equip and encourage leaders, not for you to talk. It’s Ok to take time to cast vision but keep it short and focused.

Recruit and Reproduce a Leadership Resident. The planter ought to have identified a leadership resident or church planter to equip, train and send within the first 9 to 12 months of launch. Let the resident reproduce and recruit and then send them out.

Go to Conferences or Outside Training. What you invest in is what you believe in. Check out training from New Thing. I would recommend you attend Exponential. Talk to your network about any resources.

Resource your Team with Tools. These can include books, manuals, guidebooks, online training platforms, seminars and conference. The truth is that there are lots of resources available on reproducing. You need to remain intentional about using them.

OK, now your turn. What is the hardest part of being intentional? How have you remained intentional about reproducing with your team? What have I missed? I would love to hear from you.

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